In 1989 the oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi and bassoonist Alberto Grazzi, members of some of the most outstanding Baroque orchestras, founded Zefiro, a versatile music group specializing in the eighteenth-century repertoire that gives particular prominence to wind instruments. Since then, Zefiro has performed at many major European festivals, including Amsterdam, Aranjuez, Barcelona, Bonn, Geneva, Graz, Helsinki, Innsbruck, London, Liège, Lyons, London, Malmö, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Palma de Mallorca, Paris, Potsdam, Prague, Ravenna, Regensburg, Rome, Salzburg, Stuttgart, Stresa, Utrecht and Vienna. They have also played in Israel, Egypt, Japan, Korea, USA, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil and have always drawn enthusiastic responses from audiences and the press.
In 1999 Zefiro made a documentary film on Antonio Vivaldi for the Belgian broadcasting company RTBF. Zefiro’s recordings include the Six Sonatas for two oboes and bassoon by Zelenka, the complete works for wind ensemble of Mozart and their own arrangements for twelve winds and a double bass of excerpts from the three Mozart operas to librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte, concertos for oboe, bassoon and strings and Concerti per vari strumenti by Vivaldi, concerts by the brothers Joan & Josep Pla, and two Händel Cds: The Musick for the Royal Fireworks and Venus et Adonis with Gemma Bertagnolli. Many Cds have received international awards, including the coveted Grand Prix du Disque, the Premio Nazionale Classic Voice and the Choc du Monde de la Musique de l’année 2007. Zefiro is now a reference point worldwide, famed for its virtuoso performances of the wind repertoire on period instruments.
They performed at the Stresa Festival in 2003 and 2009.